The Portland daily press., 1887-11-11
WITH BLAcKENED FACES.
Commissioner stllIweIi Talks of the
Affair at Edes Falls.
sebago Lake VIII Be Restocked in
Spite of shotguns.
Unreasonable Opposition to the Work
of the Fish Commissioners.

OF tne FiSn commissioners.
Hon. e. NJ. Stillwell, of Bangor. Commits
sioner of Fisheries and Game, was in th,
city yesterday. Speaking to PRESS report
er concerning the affair at Edes Falls, wher,
seventeen men with blackened faces de.
stroyed the Fish Commissioners salmon
weir, while one of their number stood over
Keeper Hartman with shot gun, he said
1T is true that they have destroyed oul
weir and done our work at Edes Falls great
harm. We had gathered in that weir one
hundred and forty fish, from which we were
intending to take the eggs. They DESTROYED
the weir and let them loose. We have since
recaptured about twenty-five. They did moi
destroy any eggs as they were all at the
hatchery, TWO miles away. But the liberia
ton ot the fish and the destruction of the
weir will seriously interfere with our sea-
sons work. Last year we got 100000 eggs
for use in our hatchery: we expected to GET
million this year. Instead of that we shall
now get only about 100000. We expended
fourteed hundred dollars last year in estab-
fishing the works, and expected to do a
great deal this year towards stocking Sebago
Lake. This will be great setback for us. -
Il see it is reported in dispatches from
the vicinity of Edes Falls that the operations
of the Fish Commissioners ON Crooked
River have to certain extent deprived the
Inhabitants of food" said the PRESS man.
That" said Commissioner Stillwell en-
phatically, sis all nonsense. How many fish
In all, do you suppose went into Crooked
River last yearP We know, because they all
went through our weir. Well, only about
Tour hundred. The only time they come into
the river is in spawning season, and at that
time salmon is not fit to eat even If they
come in such numbers that they become an
Important item of food, as they do not in
Crooked River. The cry that the people are
deprived of food is raised by few loafers
like those who destroyed our weir. who like
the fishing frolics when the fish, stupid at
their spawning beds, may be netted, speared.
killed by dynamite, shot or otherwise slaugh-
Tered by methods that the idle brains of these
fellows can concoct. The idea that the
works cut off food supply is very silly. A
decent dog wouldn't eat the salmon that go
up Crooked River to spawn"
us it true that eggs have been taken from
hsh IN Crooked River to be distributed to diff
ferent ponds and lakes all over the State?'
mo, sir; every egg taken from a Sebago
Lake salmon has been put into the hatchery
at Edes Falls, and, when the young fry have
Matched. every fish has been put back into
Sebago waters.''
II see one reason assigned for the destruc-
ton of the weir was that the sight of dead
salmon, killed by unskillful handling, or by
dashing their heads against the weir, aroused
the Indignation of the people. Is that true p"
That, too, is wholly false. Mr.. Hartman
is one of the most skillful handlers in the
United States. He came to us from the SER
vice of the late Professor Baird, United
States Commissioner. The real cause of
the death of those fish was that they
had been blinded in the meshes of the
poachers' gill nets or wounded by poachers'
spears. Last year few were scratched by
the weirs, though not seriously; this year
the weirs had been improved and no fish
was even scratched"
Have you ever had such troubles at your
other hatcheries in this State?"
Never. But there has always been
trouble on Crooked River. In the days when
salmon abounded in Sebago Lake the river
used to be full in the spawning season. The
fish were slaughtered ruthlessly and incon-
siderately. The result is that there are prob
ably not over eight hundred or
thousand salmon in the whole great
lake of Sebago today This estimate is made
from the number that come into our weirs
ID Crooked river to spawn. The salmon
spawn once in two years. Last year about
four hundred came into our weir. The
number this year probably would have been
about the same. This makes about eight
hundred Sebago salmon that spawn in
Crooked river, and, as the number that
spawn in other streams tributary to the
Lake is very small, there cannot be many
more than eight hundred in the whole Lake.
The Fish Commissioners have undertaken to
replenish these magnificent waters, and
make them as famous as Moosehead Lake:
make them, too, as great source Of revenue
to Maine as are the waters of Meosehead
At first we tried to do it by preventing
poachers from disturbing the fish in Crooked
river in their spawning time. But it would
1%'S ""hNh a AO6AliCnb VI uIcu W
Crooked river. Professor Baird undertook
to help us. He expended $1,000, but the
poachers brought his work to naught. Then
we realized that it was no use to try to guard
Crooked river. The only way was to 60
down near the Lake, put our weir in and
stop every fish before he could get up where
The poachers could get at him. We did that
last year. captured our fish, took the eggs
from them and the salmon went back into
The Bake unframed. The eggs we kept in
our hatchery all winter, and last spring put
over 100000 young salmon fry back into Sc
Dago waters, to begin the replenishment of
It's exhausted waters. We were planning to
10 better this year, but those scalawags have
interfered with our plans"
They will be prosecuted, of course?"
Il have not sworn out any warrants yet"
"Put you will"
Il am not ready to say about that yet.
But we shall not be driven from our purpose
If stocking Sebago; l can assure you of
hat"